"There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up," Damico said.

There's been no contact with the 36-year-old man identified as Jeff Bush, since then and neighbors on both sides of the Seffner home have been evacuated.

Fire and rescue officials say there "are no signs of life" from Bush, and say it's a recovery mission, not a rescue effort.

"We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn't see anything compatible with life," Damico said. But Damico would not say that the man is presumed dead.

"We heard a loud crash. I ran in there and heard somebody screaming, my brother screaming, and I ran all in there," Jeremy Bush, the victim's brother.

A deputy jumped in to pull Jeremy out, possibly saving his life.

"I went into the bedroom and I saw the sinkhole in the entire bedroom," Deputy Douglas Duvall told MyFoxTampaBay.com. "I saw the family member inside the hole who was trying to get the victim out. I reached out and was able to grab his hand and pull him out of the hole."

"I couldn't get myself out," Jeremy Bush said. "The cop had to get me out."

Officials said the hole was about 30 feet in width and 20 feet deep.

Crews haven't been able to get close because the sinkhole continues to grow, and it's too dangerous.

Rescuers tried to send a camera and listening device into the hole but it was swallowed up.

"Right now, the potential for a collapse is very, very high," Damico said.

Horrible way to go. Not only could you be crushed, there is also the very probable fact that one could be alive down there, only to die because as you breath, the dirt would slowly keep colapsing in on you, making it impossible to breath after a bit.

Sinkholes are so common in Florida that state law requires home insurers to provide coverage against the danger. While some cars, homes and other buildings have been devoured, it's extremely rare for them to swallow a person.

Florida is highly prone to sinkholes because there are caverns below ground of limestone, a porous rock that easily dissolves in water.

"You can almost envision a piece of Swiss cheese," Taylor Yarkosky, a sinkhole expert from Brooksville, Fla., said while gesturing to the ground and the sky blue home where the earth opened in Seffner. "Any house in Florida could be in that same situation."

Saw this story on CNN the other day while in the break room at work. Really is a nightmare come true. One minute your sleeping, next minute you are just plunging into the earth. Honestly a truly horrible way to go. Just awful.

I heard about this story, kinda makes me nervous that I live in florida. I wonder if you can get someone to come out and take x-rays of the ground or something to check for this every few years at your house.